May 3, 2012

"The Greatness of His Lovingkindness" (5/3)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Psalm 106-107.

Psalm 106 chronicles the history of the Israelites sinning against God, then being punished by Him for their sins. But in spite of their sin, God was always willing to save them when they cried out to Him.

“Nevertheless He looked upon their distress when He heard their cry; and He remembered His covenant for their sake, and relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness” (Psalm 106:44-45).

God’s grace is remarkable. Despite their chronic sin, He was still willing to deliver them.
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April 11, 2012

Why Satan Is More Successful than the Atheists

It seems that atheists have become more militant of late in trying to persuade others to join them in their non-belief of God. While some might be convinced to convert to the atheists’ faith (atheism is most certainly a faith because it is rooted in the belief, not the provable fact, that there is no God), most will reject their teaching. If the goal is to get people to forfeit their chance at salvation, Satan is far more successful than the atheists are.

Why is Satan more successful? He has a more appealing offer than the atheists have. Case in point: I recently read an article about the Atheist Agenda group at a college in Texas. The group set up a table on campus and promised to give free pornography for anyone willing to give up a Bible in exchange. The article noted that this event which started in 2008, attracting lots of attention early on, has barely been noticed this year. The reason is simple: Very few people will surrender their Bibles and embrace atheism (or at least consider it), in exchange for free pornography.

The atheists offer an either/or proposition. You can either have the Bible or you can have pornography You can either believe in God or reject God. Satan is more successful because he does not offer an either/or proposition; he offers a both/and proposition.
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April 10, 2012

Serve God in Spite of Your Previous Sin (4/10)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from 1 Samuel 9-12.

The Israelites sinned in asking for a king because God was already their king. God granted their request, but had warned them that once the king was in place, it would be too late to undo what had been done (1 Samuel 8:18).

However, even though requesting a king was a sin with consequences that would exist for generations, the people would still be able to, and would still have the obligation to, serve the Lord.

“Then all the people said to Samuel, ‘Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king.’ Samuel said to the people, ‘Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart’” (1 Samuel 12:19-20).

There was no way to undo their sin. They now had to live with the consequences. But they still needed to obey the Lord from that point forward.
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April 6, 2012

Safety Among Brethren? (4/6)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Judges 19-21.

We remember Sodom where homosexuality was so prevalent that the men of the city demanded that Lot’s visitors be brought out so they could rape them (Genesis 19:4-5). God destroyed the city for this sin (Genesis 19:12-13, 24-25; Jude 7).

A few hundred years later, a similar event happened in Gibeah when a Levite and his concubine visited the city (Judges 19:1-28). The men of the city surrounded the house in which they were staying and called for the man to be brought out so they could rape him. When the owner of the house refused and the concubine was sent out instead, they brutally gang raped her throughout the night. She was treated so severely that she died just before dawn from the abuse she had received.

How did this couple find themselves in such an awful and dangerous place? They actually believed it was a place of safety.
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April 5, 2012

Annoyed to Death (4/5)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Judges 16-18.

Delilah was offered eleven hundred pieces of silver by the lords of the Philistines to find out the source of Samson’s great strength (Judges 16:5). So she asked him three times and each time he gave her a wrong answer (Judges 16:6-14). Afterward, she tried to make him feel guilty about deceiving her.

“Then she said to him, ‘How can you say, “I love you,” when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is.’ It came about when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to death. So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, ‘A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man’” (Judges 16:15-17).

Samson had to have known she was up to something. Yet he eventually told her his secret. Why? She annoyed him to death with her persistent pestering. As this continued day after day, she wore him down and was told the secret.
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April 3, 2012

"Go and Cry Out to the Gods Which You Have Chosen" (4/3)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Judges 10-12.

Following their regular pattern, the Israelites fell away and “did evil in the sight of the Lord” (Judges 10:6). To punish them, God “sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the sons of Ammon. They afflicted and crushed the sons of Israel that year” (Judges 10:7-8). Then, as they typically did, the sons of Israel cried to God for help.

“Then the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, ‘We have sinned against You, for indeed, we have forsaken our God and served the Baals.’ The Lord said to the sons of Israel, ‘Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the sons of Ammon, and the Philistines? Also when the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hands. Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer deliver you. Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your distress’” (Judges 10:10-14).

Time and time again, God proved His love for the sons of Israel in delivering them despite their disobedience. But they thought of God’s grace as a reason to tolerate sin, just as many do today (Romans 6:1-2).
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March 17, 2012

Rules for Kings (3/17)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Deuteronomy 17-20.

God knew the nation of Israel would one day be ruled by kings. Even though God saw this as a rejection of His sovereignty over the people (1 Samuel 8:7), He gave instructions here in the law for these future kings.

“Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

“Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel” (Deuteronomy 17:16-20).

Notice briefly some of the rules God established for one in this position of civil authority:
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